en wrong! Didn't he want to squander every shilling of
the property,--property which has never belonged to him;--property
which I could give to Tom, Dick, or Harry to-morrow, if I liked?--If
he has been wrong!"

"I am not defending him, sir;--but I thought that, perhaps, on such
an occasion as this--"

"A Tom Fool's occasion! You've got money of your own. He'll spend all
that now."

"He will be less likely to do so if you will recognise him as your
heir. Pray believe, sir, that he is not the sort of man that he was."

"He must be a very clever sort of man, I think, when he has talked
you out of such a husband as John Grey. It's astounding to me,--with
that ugly mug of his! Well, my dear, if your father approves of it,
and if George will ask my pardon,--but I don't think he ever will--"

"He will, sir. I am his messenger for as much as that."

"Oh, you are, are you? Then you may also be my messenger to him, and
tell him that, for your sake, I will let him come back here. I know
he'll insult me the first day; but I'll try and put up with it,--for
your sake, my dear. Of course I must know what your father thinks
about it."

It may be imagined that Kate's success was even less than that which
Alice achieved. "I knew it would be so," said John Vavasor, when his
niece first told him;--and as he spoke he struck his hand upon the
table. "I knew all along how it would be."

"And why should it not be so, Uncle John?"

"He is your brother, and I will not tell you why."

"You think that he is a spendthrift?"

"I think that he is as unsafe a man as ever I knew to be intrusted
with the happiness of any young woman. That is all."

"You are hard upon him, uncle."

"Perhaps so. Tell Alice this from me,--that as I have never yet been
able to get her to think anything of my opinion, I do not at all
expect that I shall be able to induce her to do so now. I will not
even make the attempt. As my son-in-law I will not receive George
Vavasor. Tell Alice that."

Alice was told her father's message; but Kate in telling it felt no
deep regret. She well knew that Alice would not be turned back from
her present intention by her father's wishes. Nor would it have
been very reasonable that she should. Her father had for many years
relieved himself from the burden of a father's cares, and now had
hardly the right to claim a father's privileges.

We will now go once again to George Vavasor's room in Cecil Street,
in which he receive